Collecting Used Vegetable Oil for Homemade Diesel Fuel

Finding and maintaining a good supply of quality used cooking oil for diesel fuel  is as much about fostering relationships as it is about schlepping containers of the amber elixir. The best way to approach the subject is with a friendly upbeat â€Å"we can scratch each other’s backs† demeanor. When first meeting up with restaurant staff try saying something along the lines of, â€Å"Sure we can take that oil off your hands, and it won’t cost a thing.† This puts restaurant managers at ease, making them more likely to provide you with the vegetable oil you need to  make  biodiesel. Keep the Agreement Once you’ve successfully forged an agreement about the how, when and where you’ll pick up the oil, keep it. We can’t stress enough the importance of being prompt and reliable about pick-ups. This is especially important if the restaurant staff make the kind effort to put the oil in buckets or jugs for you. Do whatever you can to score that kind of an arrangement, because it is difficult and messy when you have to pump it out of a sticky, gooey—often smelly—oil barrel out behind the building. Magnify that description by ten on a hot, humid July afternoon.   Securing Your VegetableOil When packing the vessels of oil in your vehicle, make sure the lids are  tightly secured. Take the time to strap or wedge the containers in position or place them in crates to stabilize them for the ride home.  This may seem obvious, but it only takes one loose lid to spill an entire container of smelly oil all over your car.   Always Be Communicating Before getting a restaurant’s waste oil, be sure to ask if it is vegetable oil. A lot of restaurants use liquid shortening, and although it will work, it’s much less reliable for good biodiesel reactions than pure vegetable oil. Stay away from animal fat grease as well—it’s even more difficult to work with than shortening. It’s not good for your reputation among the restaurants if you agree to take their waste vegetable oil only to find it’s shortening or animal grease that you don’t want, and then have to extricate yourself from the deal. Worse still is to just stop collecting it without a word to the manager. If you find, for any reason, that you need to discontinue collecting oil from a particular establishment, give them the courtesy of notification. If you leave them hanging, word travels fast, and you can even ruin the opportunity for other budding â€Å"biodieselists† who will follow in your footsteps.

Boosting corporate customer loyalty - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 14 Words: 4209 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Marketing Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Hotels boost corporate customer loyalty  through the service quality of the front office personnel INTRODUCTION This research, through a review of literature published on the subject, considers how hotel organisations might boost the repeat patronage of their corporate customers. Changes in the economy and the overall culture of corporate business travel, such as the increase in use of technology instead of trips, have significantly impacted the hotel industry in recent years. These changes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“have altered the possibilities for service delivery and have heightened the importance of promoting a quality ethicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Harrington and Akehurst 2000: 133). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Boosting corporate customer loyalty" essay for you Create order This is a particularly important consideration in UK hotel organisations, as they have been found to be more complacent and produce lower customer satisfaction than their global competitors (Meyer et al 1999: 374). As Meyer et al (1999) notes, in regards to satisfying the business traveller, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“US hotels showed a better understanding than German or UK hotels of their customers wants and needs that in turn leads to more effective services, higher levels of service quality and customer satisfaction (375). The UK is responding, addressing the use of part-time staff and high turnover through initiatives such as Investors in People, which increases training provision to leisure and tourism workers, amongst others (Maxwell et al 2001: 738). A difficulty in the hotel industry, however, is the importance of providing both quality product and service, as both are integral to the customerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s experience (Haynes and Fryer 2000: 240). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Customer servi ce is the only area over which the hotelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s product can be clearly differentiated from its major competitorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ productsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Haynes and Fryer 2000: 240). Therefore, to increase market share and remain competitive in the corporate lodging sector, hotels must focus on service quality. Service quality, defined more fully later in the review of literature, is the ability of a hotel to meet or exceed the expectations of its clientele regarding service provision. Loyalty is the result of high service quality, the repeat patronage of customers to a hotel. It is the front office personnel that often have the most impact on the corporate customer. Jones and Haven-Tang (2005) conclude à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ultimately, responsibility for high quality service provision rests with front-line staffà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (7). Similarly, McColl-Kennedy and White (1997) report that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the behaviours of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"front lineà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ service providers are crucial to the customerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s evaluation of the service (249). Haynes and Fryer (2000) report that customer exchanges and relationships with staff have a strong impact on hotel branding, and contribute directly to repeat patronage (241). This research seeks to consider what factors impact customer loyalty amongst business hotel travellers. It therefore provides a review of available literature on the service quality of front office personnel, and the impact of this quality on customer loyalty amongst the corporate traveller. As such, considerations of service quality and customer loyalty as a whole are undertaken, followed by specific consideration of the corporate traveller and three specific research questions addressing how hotels can boost customer loyalty in this customer group. RESEARCH QUESTIONS This examination of literature, therefore, seeks to address three specific questions related to how hotels might boost performance through the serv ice quality of their front office personnel: How strongly does training impact service quality, specifically in regards to the quality attributes that most increase corporate loyalty? What is the impact of technology on service quality in relation to corporate customers? How does employee empowerment effect service quality to corporate customers? These three questions were selected because the researcher hypothesises that these three components are key to the establishment of service quality, and the loyalty that results from high customer satisfaction, in the corporate hotel customer. It is anticipated the results of this research will establish the importance of these three components. LITERATURE REVIEW The first area to be considered in this review of literature is a more complete definition of service quality, as many exist. Chung (1998) provides the following definition: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Quality is the degree to which a product or service conforms to a set of predetermined standards related to the characteristics that determine its value in the marketplace and its performance of the function for which it was designedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (190). Candido (2005) asserts that service quality must focus specifically on strategy and its use in meeting and exceeding customer needs (3). This is reinforced by Buttle and Bok (199 6), who contend that the theory of reasoned action reveals service quality to be directly related to hotel customer expectations (10). McColl-Kennedy and White (1997) elaborate that customer satisfaction in terms of hotel service is typically an emotional response towards what was experienced in comparison to what was expected. If the customerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s perception is that service met or exceeded expectations, he or she experiences satisfaction, if expectations are not at least met, he or she is dissatisfied (250). Other theorists support this expectation-based view of service quality. For example, Johns and Tyas (1997) assert à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Service quality is generally visualised as the sum of customer perceptions of the service experienceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (474). Similarly, Gould-Williams (1999) states that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“service quality is generally conceptualised as the gap between consumers expectations about a service and their subsequent perception of service perfor manceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (101). For practical purposes, literature in the topic breaks down service quality into specific categories for consideration. Citing Crane and Lynch (1988), Gould-Williams (1999) lists the areas of responsiveness, competence, courtesy, and interpersonal skills as impacting on service quality (99). Johns and Tyas (1997) breaks service quality into five attributes: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (477). Matzler et al (2004) takes a broader view, using three categories. Basic factors, or dissatisfiers, are the minimum and entirely expected expectations of the customer. If these are not met, regardless of other service provisions, the customer will be dissatisfied (Matzler et al 2004: 1183). Performance factors are possible expectations, and may lead to increased or decreased satisfaction if provided or not provided, respectively. These factors are desired by the customer but not recognised as foundati onal to the service provision. Excitement factors increase customer satisfaction if provided by are not expected, and therefore do not decrease satisfaction if not provided (Matzler et al 2004: 1183). The most common categorization, however, is based on the research of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985, 1986). They originally identified ten factors, later reduced to five, that could be used in the definition and measurement of service quality: understanding, service standards, service performance, communications, and service quality (Tsang 2000: 317). Their service quality model is based on a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"gapsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ theory, where the size and direction of each gap impacts the overall quality perception of the guest. For example, service performance measures the difference between the customerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expectations of service quality and the service actually provided (Tsang 2000: 317). Their model provides equal weighting across the five categorise, an assumption challenged by Gould-Williams (1999), who reports that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“even though products and services consist of many attributes, consumers tend to base their overall perception of quality on just a few attributes or in some cases just oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (98). Defining customer demographics and desires can define their expectations of service Inbakaran and Jdackson (2005) concur, concluding that it is often the customer group that determines which factors are most impacting on service quality (59). They conclude that grouping customers by demographics and desires can accurately predict their expectations of service (Inbakaran and Jdackson 2005: 59). In the corporate arena, as in the hotel industry as whole, Harrington and Akehurst (2000) find that quality à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“has replaced price as the determining factor in consumer choiceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (134). Literature further supports that this focus on quality must lead to a continued consideration of the issue, with quality improvement being an ongoing aim of the hotel organisation (Chung 1998: 189). Customer loyalty is the result of high service quality and other factors that meet or exceed customer expectations. When a business traveller books again and again at the same hotel, he or she displays loyalty to that organisation. Importantly for business travel, this loyalty typically transfers to the overall hotel brand, so that experience of high service quality at one branch location improves the repeat patronage across all brand locations (Buswell and Williams 2003: 47). Conversely, experience that does not satisfy basic factors and possibly even performance factors at one location may decrease loyalty across the brand (Buswell and Williams 2003: 47). Cano (2001) finds all the factors required for the building of a hotelà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s customer loyalty to be dependent on service quality: service that meets or exceeds expectations, delivered dependably and accurately helpful and prompt staff who are knowledgeable and courteous, conveying trust and confidence the provision of caring, individualised attention and the maintenance of links with the customer during acts of service delivery Inbakaran and Jdackson (2005) assert à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“It is an established fact that in the hospitality industry repeat patronage is directly related to the service quality and focused customer serviceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (53). However, they also note that customer service experience and the loyalty resulting from positive experiences is based to some extent on the segment of the hotel customer to whom the hotel is appealing (Inbakaran and Jdackson 2005: 57). That is, the service quality factors important to business travellers, such as immediate delivery of messages and concierge services, may not be as impacting on the perception of service quality in other customer groups. It can be difficult, however, to measure or assess service quality. First, as service quality is an experience between two or more people there are an uncountable number of factors that may play a role (Erto and Vanacore 2002: 165). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Measuring service quality is a very complex task because of the p eculiarities embodied in the service product itself a service is hardly reproduced consistently and exactly, because of the variability of service from time to time and from one customer to anotherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Erto and Vanacore 2002: 165). Citing numerous sources, Gould-Williams (1999) similarly conclude there are a myriad of variables that can be considered, and ways in which service quality has attempted to be measured (100). However, a number of tools and methods have been used to assess service quality. The most common is the use of a style of customer questionnaire known as a SERVQUAL (Johns and Tyas 1997: 475). This is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“one of the most widely accepted mcasures of service qualityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  in the leisure industry today (Gould-Williams 1999: 102). Based on the work of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry previously mentioned, this questionnaire is created using specific attributes of service quality designated by the hotel organisation. These typically rang e from fifteen to twenty-five areas, but can include thirty-five or more quality attributes (Tsang 2000: 319). Customers are asked to scale the quality they expected from each specific service attribute listed, then similarly scale the quality they actually experienced in the service performance of that attribute (Johns and Tyas 1997: 475). Such measures are important because the perceived factors important in customer service have been found to be different for staff and customers. For example, in one study staff ranked politeness as the most important factor, but this was seventh on the list for customers. Personal attention was most important to the customers, but ranked eleventh by staff (McColl-Kennedy and White 1997: 255). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Clearly, customers and employees have very different expectations from the customer service encounterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (McColl-Kennedy and White 1997: 255). Critical incident analysis is another form of evaluating service quality. This metho d does not examine the day-to-day interaction of staff and customers as much as focuses on the few specific encounters found to be most impacting on the overall perception of service quality (Johns and Tyas 1997: 477). Blum (1997) finds that the information such assessments provide to management can be excellent in revealing areas of high and low quality service (351). Although Bare and Turkel (2003) contend that inspection such as is provided by à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“mystery shoppersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  or anonymous inspectors is important to quality service provision (32), Chung (1998) finds that inspection does not improve quality (191). Chung argues that quality must be built into the service system, that to measure it by inspection reduces quality factors to those specific to an individual or situation and therefore is of little use in the long-term (Chung 1998: 191). A good system does much to elimintate potential problems before they impact service quality (Chung 1998: 191). One w ay of creating such a system, and in turn measuring the quality of service provision, is benchmarking. Benchmarking is described as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the search for industry best practices that will lead to superior performanceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Cano et al 2001: 974). In the tourism industry, this is theorised to be undertaken using a six-step model: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“decide what to benchmark, understand internal processes, decide on best in class, collect data, analyse results, and implement actionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Cano et al 2001: 975). This is not an exclusive methodology, however. Some researchers have combined benchmarking with SERVQUAL assessment, developing the questionnaire based on benchmarking findings and using it o fulfil the data collection step of the benchmarking process. Specific to corporate loyalty, business travellers do so more regularly and repeatedly visit the same locations than other customer groups (Buswell and Williams 2003: 47). Accommodations are also likely made for an entire organisation by one individual or group, increasing the importance of word-of-mouth and the satisfactory experiences of each traveller. As such, the experience of service quality the corporate customer has at one hotel has more impact on the overall hotel organisation than the impact of the typical tourist customer (Buswell and Williams 2003: 47). Corporate loyalty tends to be collective, the combined experiences of all the travellers in the organisation. Customer loyalty is vitally important in this customer sector, as it à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“gives improved opportunities for identifying customers and provides a means of closing the service gap by improving communication between service provider and consumerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Cano et al 2001: 976). The number of similar hotels catering to the corporate customer similarly makes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"hardà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ standards less relevant, such as whether the bathroom is clean or the lights function. Instead, à ¢Ã¢â€ š ¬Ã‹Å"softà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ standards, such as are embodied in service quality, that make the business traveller feel like a special guest, are more likely to contribute to repeat patronage (Erto and Vanacore 2002: 167). Gould-Williams (1999) finds that corporate customersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ behavioural intentions are not only influenced by global assessments of perceived service quality and value but are also affected by specific employee performanceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  and that the latter more likely to lead to increased loyalty (101). In the business sector particularly, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the correlation between service quality and employee performance remains highà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Gould-Williams 1999: 108). Of the employee groups, restaurant and front office staff were found to have the most direct impact on guest loyalty (Gould-Williams 1999: 111). One factor which this research anticipates to strongly impact service quality and loyalty is front office training. L ashley (2005) finds that skill gaps in front office personnel correlates highly to lower service quality and customer satisfaction, which is has been shown would reduce loyalty (189). Maxwell et al (2001) go as far as to assert, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Quality customer service is clearly an imperative of Scottish tourism; staff training is the route to achieving and maintaining this qualityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (743). Bare and Turkel (2003) found that hotel companies who increased training in times of workforce cuts and other economic hardship were more likely to remain profitable than those that did not, and a year later showed 80% higher profits than the latter group (32). In one study, a training programme implemented as part of greater HRM scheme improved customer satisfaction 13% in first quarter after implementation, and rose for two additional quarters, after which it remained high (Haynes and Fryer 2000: 246). Harrington and Akehurst (2000) found that cross-training and increased training improved service provision (151). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“By equipping workers with the necessary skills and capabilities, they are in a better position to develop strong cross-functional links and provide high quality service in response to customer demands for greater flexibilityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Harrington and Akehurst 2000: 151). Unfortunately, literature reports training to be underemphasised by many hotel organisations. McColl-Kennedy and White (1997) report from focus groups with a number of hotels that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“relatively little emphasis is given to staff training in terms of customer serviceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“in all but two hotels, training consisted of the initial induction program, a monthly meeting of departmental staff, and a meeting with their respective supervisor once every three months to review their performanceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (McColl-Kennedy and White 1997: 258). Also, in difficult times training is often one of the first areas to be scaled back in the typical hotel, and this is a mistake. Bare and Turkel (2003) argue that softness in occupancy and average daily rate should lead to an increase in training (Bare and Turkel 2003: 32). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“In these difficult times, the hotel companies that spend the most on better employee selection, training, and mystery shopping services will win the prizeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Bare and Turkel 2003: 32). However, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“organizations that recognize the importance of service encounters and in particular the interactions between front line service providers and their customers spend considerable effort, time and other resources in training their employees in service encountersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (McColl-Kennedy and White 1997: 249). The Ritz-Carlton, for example, provides at least one hundred hours of training for each employee per year. (McColl-Kennedy and White 1997: 249). Bare and Turkel (2003) assert à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ better training helps find better employees and keeps the go od onesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (32). Garavan (1997) finds that social skills training in particular has a positive impact on à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the quality of customer service within a hotel environmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (75). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“These findings suggest that social-skills training of front-line employees may lead to improved quality of service, in the short term at least. demonstrate the linkage between the power of behaviour change and service effectiveness (Garavan 1997: 75). In addition, he concludes that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“training and development can be used to reinforce certain behaviours and attitudes which contribute to effective service while stressing the need for improvement in behaviours which do not facilitate the attainment of desired service quality goalsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Garavan 1997: 75). Technology was surprisingly found to have little impact on customer experience of quality, satisfaction, or loyalty, according to literature. Technology has been found to decrease the need for business travel, as the internet, conference calling and the like now replace many business meetings (Buswell and Williams 2003: 95). This further tightens an already highly competitive hotel industry. Use of technology has also increased competition in that business travellers can now book online, increasing the opportunities for local individual hotels to compete with larger, branded organisations (Buswell and Williams 2003: 95). Branded hotel chains could use computer databases of previous customers to improve personalisation of service to business customers, whilst an independent hotel could not. However, few hotels seem to be capitalising on this area of competitive advantage (Buswell and Williams 2003: 95). Business travellers, however, seem more interested in how service is provided, rather than whether or not technology is employed. Jones and Tang (2005) find that although the physical portion of the product impacted by technology is important, the human elem ent of service still carries the day in respect to corporate loyalty (7). Blum (1997) reviewed 109 articles in hotel and restaurant industry publications over a six-year period, and found that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“despite massive investment by hotel operators in information technology, evidence of improved employee productivity is scantà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (352). They do find, however, that many hotels are implementing technology to improve guest experience, such as speeding up check in and out, providing online booking, and similar (Blum 1997: 352). More current literature does not indicate, however, that technology has a strong impact on overall customer satisfaction and loyalty. In contrast, the literature reviewed strongly supports the impact of employee empowerment on improved service and resulting loyalty. Garavan (1997) fond that situational factors strongly influence the success of interpersonal interactions (73). As such, the empowered employee can respond to specific situations i n a way that most effectively meets or exceeds the needs of the customer. Employees who are cross-trained and empowered to make circumstantial decisions themselves have been found to be not only more productive, but more motivated as they have a greater sense of involvement with the hotel in which they work (Harrington and Akehurst 2000: 151). Merrick (2000), for example, gives an example of a front office worker who loaned a guest an evening gown (the guest had forgotten hers). This type of decision-making ability and customer focus is only available where employees are empowered to act in situations not spelled out by organisation guidelines. The businesswoman in question reports her intention to continue to patronise this hotel. Buttle and Bok (1996) draw attention to the need of hotel organisations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“to develop systems and processes which are guest-friendly, and which enable staff to identify, and exceed guestsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ routine expectations of hotel per formanceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (10). They assert that hotels à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“should consider empowering customer-contact employees to do whatever is necessary to meet customer requirementsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“be pro-active in enhancing the interactive quality of the guest experience,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  concluding à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“it is the quality of the guest-employee interactive experience in the hotel that determines whether there will be repeat businessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Buttle and Bok 1996: 10). Harrington and Akehurst (2000) find that often the departmentalisation of larger hotels, like those brands typically catering to the business traveller, leads to reduced empowerment of front office personnel and lower customer satisfaction (149). They conclude that formal structure that cannot be overridden to meet customer expectations impedes integration and service quality (Harrington and Akehurst 2000: 149). Cross-training and increasing the decision-making allowances for front office staff, particularly in areas that are not covered by specific guidance, both improves productivity and quality (Harrington and Akehurst 2000: 149). They conclude that employee resourcefulness has a high correlation with loyalty. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The effective delivery of service quality rests on the degree to which employees manage the interface with customers,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“their competencies and skills in effecting such a task are strongly related to both the quality and degree of training offered by the organisation, and also to the extent to which management distributes power and authority within the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Harrington and Akehurst 2000: 150). Overall, employee satisfaction is found to be both higher when workers are empowered, and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“one of the most important drivers of quality, customer satisfaction and productivityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (Matzler et al 2004: 1179). CONCLUSIONS Findings of this research reveal that training and empowerment are both documented in research to strongly impact service quality for corporate customers. As such, they are similarly important factors in the creation of customer loyalty in this traveller group. As corporate clients typically patronise larger organisations that market to their specific customer demographic, implementation of strategies that increase the training level and circumstantial decision-making functions of front office personnel are likely not only to boost loyalty at individual hotel locations but across the brand, and for multiple customers from the same firm or organisation. Technology was not found to have a substantial impact on the business traveller. Whilst literature acknowledges an effect of technological advancements on a number of functions within the average hotel, most of these are found to be of significantly less importance than the human impact on service quality in the literature reviewed. As such, hotel organisations would be advised to concentrate quality initiatives on improving training for front office staff and to implement systems in which these workers have some decision-making responsibility by which they can best respond to and exceed the needs and wants of their corporate customers. REFERENCES Bare, M. and Turkel, S. 2003. Superior Service Sells Guestrooms. Lodging and Hospitality, May 2003: 32. Blum, S. 1997. Current concerns: a thematic analysis of recent hospitality industry issues. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 9(7): 350à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"361. Buswell, J. and Williams, C. 2003. Service Quality in Leisure and Tourism. Oxfordshire: CABI. Buttle, F. and Bok, B. 1996. Hotel marketing strategy and the theory of reasoned action. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 8(3): 5à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"10. Candido, C. 2005. Service Quality Strategy Implementation: A Model and the Case of the Algarve Hotel Industry. Total Quality Management, 16(1 ): 3à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"14. Cano, M., Drummond, S., Miller, C. and Barclay, S. 2001. Learning from others: benchmarking in diverse tourism enterprises. Total Quality Management, 12(78): 974- 980. Chung, C. 1999. It is the process: A philosophical foundation for quality management. Total Quality Management, 10(2): 187-197. Dale, B.G., Wu, P., Zairi, M., Williams, A.R. and Van Der Wiele, T. 2001. Total quality management and theory: An exploratory study of contribution. Total Quality Management, 12(4): 439- 449. Erto, P. and Vanacore, A. 2002. A probabilistic approach to measure hotel service quality. Total Quality Management, 13(2): 165-174. Garavan, T.M. 1997. Interpersonal skills training for quality service interactions. Industrial and Commercial Training, 29(3): 70à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"77. Gould-Williams, J. 1999. The Impact of Employee Performance Cues on Guest Loyalty, Perceived Value and Service Quality. The Service Industries Journal, 19(3): 97-118. Harrington , D. and Akehurst, G. 2000. An Empirical Study of Service Quality Implementation. The Service Industries Journal, 20(2): 133-156. Haynes, P. and Fryer, G. 2000. Human resources, service quality and performance: a case study. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(4): 240-248. Inbakaran, R. and Jackson, M. 2005. Understanding resort visitors through segmentation. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 6(1): 53-71. Johns, N. and Tyas, P. 1997. Customer Perceptions of Service Operations:Gestalt, Incident or Mythology? The Service Industries Joumal, 17(3): 474-488. Jones, B. and Haven-Tang, C. 2005. Tourism SMEs, Service Quality And Destination Competitiveness. In B. Jones and C. Haven-Tang (eds). Tourism SMEs, Service Quality and Destination Competitiveness: International Perspectives. Oxfordshire: CABI. 1-24. Lashley, C. 2005. Insights into Skill Shortages and Skill Gaps in Tourism: a study in Greater Manchester. In B. Jones and C. Haven-Tang (eds). Tourism SMEs, Service Quality and Destination Competitiveness: International Perspectives. Oxfordshire: CABI. 183-196. Matzler, K. Fuchs, M. and Schubert, A.K. 2004. Employee Satisfaction: Does Kanos Model Apply? Total Quality Management, 15(9-10): 1179-1198. Maxwell, G.A., MacRae, M., Adam, M. and MacVicar, A. 2001. Great expectations: Investors in People in Scottish tourism. Total Quality Management, 12(6): 735- 744. McColl-Kennedy, J. and White, T. 1997. Service provider training programs at odds with customer requirements in five-star hotels. The Journal of Services Marketing, 11(4): 249-264. Merrick, N. 2000. Immaculate Reception. People Management, November 2000, 46-48. Meyer, A., Chase, R., Roth, A., Voss, C., Sperl, K.U., Menor, L. and Blackmon, K. 1999. Service competitiveness: An international benchmarking comparison of service practice and performance in Germany, UK and USA. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 10(4): 369-379. Tsang, N . 2000. Service quality in Chinas hotel industry: a perspective from tourists and hotel managers. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 12(5): 316-326. Worsfold, P. 1999. HRM, performance, commitment and service quality in the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 11(7): 340-348.

High Blood Pressure Among Pregnant Women - 959 Words

High blood pressure among pregnant women is a common occurrence, especially during the second and third trimester. Hypertension is a result of high blood pressure and can cause increased cardiac output and blood volume. In pregnant women, this is called pregnancy-induced hypertension. Hypertension along with proteinuria, protein excretion in urine, is known as pre-eclampsia. If left untreated, pre-eclampsia can lead to eclampsia. Fetal and maternal mortality, cerebral palsy, and morbidity risks increase with pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, due to lack of blood flow. Pregnant women’s serum levels of minerals have been shown to decrease during pregnancy, most likely due to the increased nutritional needs due to the growing fetus. Pregnant women with pre-eclampsia have been shown to have slightly lower levels of magnesium when compared to healthy pregnant women. This suggests the deficiency of magnesium could be related to the pre-eclampsia.1-4 The effect of magnesium in pregnant wo men has been a strong topic to study. In fact, some studies have used magnesium as a form of treatment for pre-eclampsia. Magnesium has been shown to provide mild vasodilation in pregnant women, which improves circulation for mother and baby.4-7 Although studies have shown to use magnesium as a treatment, there have been few on using magnesium as a preventative measure for high blood pressure in pregnant women. The main study was a double blind, randomized clinical trial conducted to determine whetherShow MoreRelatedHypertension : A Common Disease893 Words   |  4 Pagesis also known as high blood pressure (HBP). It is a common disease which mainly affects people over the age of 60. Hypertension is caused by increased pressure on the arteries. It is measured with a blood pressure cuff. 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Management and Organization Marketing Strategies

Question: Discuss about theManagement and Organization for Marketing Strategies. Answer: Introduction: This report evaluates the management and marketing mix strategy as well as its effect on an organization. Here, Boost Juices has been chosen for the purpose of reviewing its marketing strategies and management activities to overcome the issues. This report presents a detailed idea on the strength and weakness of the company. It also provides an insight into the leadership styles and management approaches, present in the company. This report also incorporates the perspectives of the managers that are used to motivate the employees. Apart from that, there is also a description of the conflicts in this organization, however, solutions have also been identified. Moreover, this report also incorporates a significant strength of this enterprise. Recommendations have also been included in the in this study. The report also allows the comparison of the recommendations to assess the efficiency prior to the application. Furthermore, this report also helps to give a critical review on the importance of the undercover boss and its approaches to the management of an organization. Assessment of the Strengths and Weakness of the Organization: This part includes assessment of the strength as well as the weakness of the Boost Juice. Strength: Since 2000, this company has established a stable market with the help of their successful marketing strategies and effective management skill (www.boostjuice.com.au, 2016), such as: Innovative products offering as well as uninterrupted and satisfactory service. The company possesses a strong recognition along with the brand value in Australia. Interesting ways to promote the products. Frequent campaigns and advertisements organized by the Boost Juice have always resulted in the positive outcome for the company. Boost Juice has been privileged with the customer loyalty as products of this firm are popular among the consumers. A communicative approach to the customers that has helped the company in more engagement with the consumers. Sacks et al. (2015), mentioned that to set up a firm business, companies must have the assurance for the strong financial flow. Boost Juice have the sufficient monetary resources back up that have resulted positive in terms of the marketing for the company. Boost Juice has focused on expanding their business internationally. Weakness: However, besides all these strengths, there is also few weaknesses of this enterprise, such as: Boost Juice arrange promotional activities frequently, thus their marketing expenditure is too high. This can affect the customer affordability, as Greene (2014), mentioned that an organization always tend to cover up their costing by increasing the product pricing or by lowering the quality of the service and quality. Though Boost Juice enjoys an excellent recognition in the Australia, it is yet getting more attention in other continents. The company has taken initiatives for the market expansion globally; however, expected positive outcomes have not been received. One of the major concern for this company is market fall of the products during winter. Evaluation of the Leadership and Management Styles in the Enterprise: Boost juice follows the democratic style partially while managing the relationship with the employees. According to, Cumberland Alagaraja (2016), democratic leadership allows the evaluation of the opinions and suggestions of the employees with intensity. All the employees are allowed to participate in the discussion as they have the direct contact with the consumers and can provide an actual image of the market. Apart from this, attributes from the transactional leadership are also followed here. Founder of the Boost Juice, Janine Allies guides the employees in a natural and warm manner as well as she also motivates the employees to enhance the performance. The report has stated that the friendly workplace environment of this company is an advantage for the skilled employees and their satisfactory service. Boost Juice practices their punch line Love Life for both the work culture and the marketing strategies (Allis, 2013). However, managers can intervene if the employee fails to agg regate the expected performance. Leaders guide the employees to reach the expected level of performance and can recognize their effort by rewarding them. Moreover, Hofmann (2015), mentioned that, in transactional form of leadership, authorities required the employees to be more dedicated to the existing policies rather than changing those policies; however, flexibility is present in work pressure. Effective Measures of the Managers to Motivate the Employees: Skill and performance of the employees depend on the motivation, provided by the employees (Kelly Clark, J.E, 2014). Manager's inspirational approach results in higher outcome while making employees enthusiastic for the work. In Boost Juice managers possess interactive approach to the employees; moreover, they also maintain cooperative gesture towards the consumers. They have the knowledge about the products and supervise the offered service to the clients. As the relationship between managers and employees are natural and casual, employees feel more secured to the authority and can discuss their requirements and demands without hesitation. Moreover, managers are supportive and helpful to the employees while considering their needs. Managers plays a major role to motivate the employees by providing the incentives according to the performance to boost the efficiency of the employees (Suriyamurthi, Velavan Radhiga, 2013) Explanation About the Conflicts in the Organization and their Solution: Armstrong et al. (2012), mentioned, conflicts always negatively affect the company it decreases the production and lowers the standard of the company. Conflicts can arise from several factors such as difference of the opinions between the employer and employees, problematic strategies, and difference between the expectation and application. For Boost Juice there is a conflict regarding the price of the products. The report stated that customers feel the products are not worth of its pricing. It is too high whereas, the products are not up to the expectation. Moreover, there is also controversy concerning the freshness and ingredients of the juice. There is also contradiction regarding the health factor of the juice; the company focus on the children and teens as their main target audience, however, issues have been raised on excessive sugar contain in the product and presence of the allergen. Recommendation to Overcome the Conflict: To get over the conflicts, mentioned above, the company can introduce budget friendly products with a different quantity of the juices and smoothies. Apart from that, they can provide discounts on particular products. Surveying the market is one of the best options for any company to understand the actual condition of the business (Sharma, 2015); thus, Boost Juice can conduct the survey to know the requirements of the consumers and consider the pricing of the products according to the demand. to make the health and safety concern more transparent the company can organize workshops and campaigns where all the products will be made engaging the customers along with the announcement of the actual facts for choosing the ingredients. Identification of an Important Strength in the Company: Kotler et al. (2015), suggested that it is necessary to shortlist the positive outcome of the company as it helps the organization to revise those positive points to make the company center of attraction while promoting marketing strategy. For Boost Juice, the significant strength is the interesting product segmentation along with the innovative marketing strategy. This company has got its maximum recognition within 5 years after the entry into the market due to the successful promotional activities, whereas, the combination of taste with the freshness of the ingredients and health supplement have provided a strong base to this company. Comparison of the Recommendations: As per the Undercover Boss concept, it does not involve thorough revision of the activities and performance of the employees. Market surveys are more significant as it involves information in a larger context and variations of the information are also considered in such a method. Undercover boss allows inspecting of the employee activities rather the customer satisfaction and market demand. Sipe Frick (2015), suggested it is also necessary to have the understanding of the market scenario as well as the employee management activities. Critical Review on the Undercover Boss Method: This concept allows the boss to monitor the employees personally for a limited time. The boss undercovers as an employee and tries to collect information as much as possible while supervise the daily works of the employees. Based on their performance appropriate employees are given either rewards or punishment. However, this method is not apposite for all the organizational environment. It is difficult to assess the performance properly in such a short time, moreover, both the unstructured reward and punishment can create miscommunication and confusion regarding the hierarchy of any firm (Robbins et al., 2013) Apart from that, few employees get rewarded leaving many of the employees unattended in the list. Other than the Undercover Boss method company can conduct frequent surveys, face to face discussion with the employees, questionnaire session within the organization to know trhe actual scenario of the compny. Conclusion: Hence, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that this report is relevant to the topic of the marketing mix. Here, different criteria have been covered in the context of both marketing strategy and leadership management. Light has been shed upon the strength and weakness of the Boost juice. Moreover, managerial approaches have been included for better understanding of the management strategy of the company. Conflicted issues have also been considered as the matter of research; however, recommendations have also been incorporated. Furthermore, a comparison has been drawn between different aspects of suggestion. This report also gleams the evaluation of the recommendations as well as critical analysis on the undercover boss method and its recommendation. Therefore, this report fulfills all the requirements and an overall idea about the Boost Juice can be availed, apart from that, the report can be revised for further extensive research. Reference List: Allis, J., (2013).The Secrets of My Success: The Story of Boost Juice, Juicy Bits and All. John Wiley Sons. Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. Brennan, R. (2012).Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Prentice-Hall, London. Cumberland, D.M. Alagaraja, M., (2016). No Place Like the Frontline: A Qualitative Study on What Participant CEOs Learned From Undercover Boss.Human Resource Development Quarterly. Greene, M., (2014). Modeling the Dynamics on the Effectiveness of Marketing Mix Elements. Hofmann, H., (2015). Marketing Concept for a New Milk Drink Based on the Evaluation of Consumers Preferences. Kelly, W.N. Clark, J.E., (2014). 4 Leading Culture, People, and the Strategic Plan.Leadership and Management in Pharmacy Practice, 51. Kotler, P., Keller, K.L., Manceau, D. Hmonnet-Goujot, A., (2015). Marketing management(Vol. 14). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Robbins, S., De Cenzo, D., Coulter, M. Woods, M., (2013).Management: the essentials. Pearson Higher Education AU. www.boostjuice.com.au,. (2016). Retrieved 24 September 2016, from https://www.boostjuice.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/A-Bit-about-Boost-2011.pdf Sacks, G., Mialon, M., Vandevijvere, S., Trevena, H., Snowdon, W., Crino, M. Swinburn, B., (2015). Comparison of food industry policies and commitments on marketing to children and product (re) formulation in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.Critical Public Health,25(3), 299-319. Sharma, P., (2015). Impact of product differentiation, marketing investments and brand equity on pricing strategies.European Journal of Marketing,49(5-6), 760-781. Sipe, J.W. Frick, D.M., (2015).Seven pillars of servant leadership: Practicing the wisdom of leading by serving. Paulist Press. Suriyamurthi, S., Velavan, M. Radhiga, T.D., (2013). Importance of leadership in innovations of HR practices.Advances in Management,6(11), 47.